An online magazine of faith based on a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The mission of Unitarian Universalism: A Way Of Life ministries is to sanctify the world by helping people become aware of their holiness.

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Monday, December 25, 2017

We are not special but gloriously ordinary

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity is not based on any specialness. This inherent worth and dignity is based on intrinsic participation in the divine creation. To be blunt none of us are special but gloriously ordinary. We are simply parts of a whole which is beyond understanding.

Osho has said:
"Everyone belongs to God. There is no other way. We are born in God, we live in God, we die in God. Our energy is God’s energy: God is simply the name of the total energy of existence. But the total is not arithmetical, the total is mysterious. It is not mechanical, it is organic. There is a great difference between these two which needs to be understood."

Osho. First in the Morning: 365 Uplifting Moments to Start the Day Consciously, p.15 Osho Media International.

It is written in A Course In Miracles that the pursuit of specialness is the basis for sin. It is written, "Pursuit of specialness is always at the cost of peace." T-24.II.2:1

The bumper sticker says, "You are unique like everyone else."

Did the bumper sticker make you laugh?

It is written in ACIM "You can defend your specialness, but never will you hear the Voice for God beside it. They speak a different language and they fall on different ears." T-24.II.5:1-2

It is further written in ACIM : "Comparison must be an ego device, for love makes none. Specialness always makes comparisons. It is established by a lack seen in another, and maintained by searching for, and keeping clear in sight, all lacks it can perceive." T-24.II.1:1-3

The Church Lady on Saturday Night Live would say, "Well, aren't you special!" with a sarcastic and condescending tone of voice.

My wife, Angela, and I have nine children. If I were asked, "Which child do you love the most?" I would be perturbed and offended. "I love them all," of course. If God were asked, "Which of your children do you love the most?" what do you think the Creator would say?

Right. He would say like I would, "I love them all."

Further, as Osho says, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. To love only a part of the whole is to miss bliss for short sighted, momentary pleasure.

5 comments:

Specialness leads to judgmentalism doesn't it? We compare what one person possesses that another person lacks. Some people are valued more than others and this diminishes the people found lacking's worth and dignity. It seems that the author here is valuing the divine essence of every person. This is what matters to him. The external characteristics are of no account. Do I have that right?

It seems that there are some things about us that are essential and most are unessential. At the most essential level we are one and the same and what the ego considers "special" is a foreign thought to God. The at-one-ment is when everybody loves everybody all the time. This is the path we are called to travel. I resonate deeply with your sense of this.

The story about specialness causing problems and contributing to sin is the story of the whole Trump campaign and the rise of the jingoistic slogan "Make America Great Again." What has happened with the rise of Trumpism is anything but made America great. It has pitted one part of the population against the other and has engendered more conflict, divisiveness and oppression.

Osho's statement that everyone belongs to God rings deeply within me. What a message for Christmas Day. I love this blog.

Nobody in this day an age wants to hear that they're not special. With the self-esteem movement in the US parents and teachers and coaches have been telling their children, students, and players that they are "special." We give prizes to everyone.

Your story about the problem with specialness has made me think about what I have done and have been doing to my children, grandchildren, and students. Perhaps this idea that telling people they are "special" is misguided. Deep down we sense differently. Our biggest feat is that we are no better and problably worse than other people. It's about the comparisons. We need to just love everybody unconditionally. We don't need to love all their behaviors but we do need to love their essential nature. Sister Helen Prejean says that every human being is better than their worst act. Amen.